Monday, May 30, 2011

Last week, I watched the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. If you enjoyed the previous Pirates movies, you ought to enjoy this one. As a bonus, its plot is less needlessly convoluted. Also, I'll take Penelope Cruz over Keira Kneightley any day. Anyway, the day before I saw the movie, I decided to pick up a couple of the figures from the movie. Naturally, I went with Blackbeard because he's based on an actual historical figure, one of the most well known pirates of the time.

The gimmick for this line is that each figure includes a little blacklight that reveals some sort of skeletal features on each figure. I'm assuming it's a callback to the first film, because it makes no sense in the context of the new film. It's not that exciting of a gimmick after the first couple of seconds, and I think it would have been a good idea to have left it out, possibly keeping the price lower at the same time. The good thing is that the extra paint is entirely unnoticeable in normal light. Blackbeard's light is a ship in a bottle which does make sense for him, but you'll have to watch the movie to find out why.

The figure itself is pretty cool. It looks good, although the articulation could definitely be improved. The shoulders are merely swivels, and the elbows are hinges. Ball shoulders would have been good for more fighting poses. The legs are somewhat hindered by the coats, but he stands easily enough. The joints seem a little on the loose side. The flintlock pistol he comes with doesn't exactly have a holster, but it does tuck into a hole in his coat, so that works. His sword has a scabbard, so all his weapons have a place if you want him empty handed. Unfortunately, he can't hold both at the same time as the left hand isn't sculpted to hold anything. Also, the hat is removable. It is a slightly loose fit, but his head manages to look good with it on or off.

I don't think these are the best figures, but neither are they the worst. But they are, like all figures in the scale these days, a bit pricy. So how you feel about pirates in general, or the movies and characters specifically, will help you decide whether they're worth it for you.